


Colour Me Impressed

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Ravioli, a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 17:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5257970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link just wanted to see what Ravio looked like...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colour Me Impressed

**Author's Note:**

> This does contain spoilers for the very end of ALBW, which I finished yesterday and I LOVED the end so much.  
> -S

"Ravio, what colour are your eyes?" Link often asked him odd questions, like how bees could take down soldiers, but this one was personal and strange.

"They're green. Why?"

"I don't know. I just wondered." He shrugged, trailing his fingers over a few of the items on Ravio's table. "Can't I see your eyes? I don't understand what could be so bad about your face that you won't show me."

Ravio snorted. Naïve little Link, sometimes he had to remind himself that the hero didn't even know he was Lorulian.

"What?" Link pouted at him, folding his arms defensively. "I heard that snort. What's so terrible about your face? I bet I've seen monsters much worse, it won't bother me."

Oh, poor little Link. It would. It would definitely bother such a sweet little thing, who'd picked up the bow and arrow and asked if he really had to kill something with it.

"Believe me, this rabbit hood is terrifying enough and I'm using this to protect you from my face. You don't want to see what's behind this hood." Link frowned at him again, crossing the room and trying to pull it up. Ravio grabbed it and tugged it back down before Link could catch more than a tiny glimpse of his chin, if that. He'd almost thought that this time Link had pulled it, he would have been revealed. Just for a moment.

"You're strange, Ravio," Link said bluntly. They sat in silence for a moment, and then the young hero wisely decided to change the subject. "Got anything to sell me that I'll need soon?"

Ravio shrugged. "I don't know what you're doing, you've stopped telling me."

"Maybe if you showed me your face..." Link sounded resentful, and Ravio felt a little twinge of guilt. He hadn't known Link was that bothered about his face. It didn't matter. He was safer if Link didn't know. And his eyes were safer with this covering. When he'd first come to this land, drained of magic and tired and scared, he'd almost been blinded by the strong Hylian sun. It was so much brighter than the dim light of Lorule, and Ravio was sure his eyes would never be used to it.

He'd thought that he'd never be able to use magic again. The bracelet around his wrist that he'd stolen from the bedchambers of Her Highness had burned his arm. It knew he was a thief. The burn had scarred him, too. Left a shiny red mark around his left wrist that he had to hide with the long sleeves of his robe. The bracelet didn't think Link was a thief, though. It liked him.

Link could do what he had done with the bracelet. But Link got to do it a lot. And without pain, he said. Link was allowed to use the bracelet to be a Hero. He fought evil and saved people and did things that Ravio never could. He'd never saved anyone. He'd just gone around trying desperately to save someone, anyone. But he couldn't do a thing.

Ravio didn't want to say he was jealous of the Hero of Hyrule, and for the most part, he wasn't. Mostly, he was just scared that Link would get hurt and never come back and leave Ravio alone in his shop until the day he died. But in ways, he was so jealous of that bravery. That little smile whenever he spoke about his adventures. He never did that anymore, though.

A few weeks ago, Link had just abruptly stopped telling Ravio what happened to him. He'd come in, maybe exchange a few words, rent something, and run out again. This was the longest conversation Ravio had had with him in a while. It was a shame. Ravio wanted to know what being a real hero was like. But he couldn't exactly say that.

Link fiddled with Ravio's merchandise a little more, selecting what he needed and paying. He started to leave, and Ravio couldn't take it any more. He just needed someone to talk to. 

"Hey! Slow down, Mr Hero! Come back."

Link turned around. "What?"

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Ravio, I- nothing's wrong, I'm fine. Saving Zelda still. She needs me, I have to go." He didn't move, though, caught halfway between the merchant and his front door.

"She's a painting, she can wait five minutes while you tell me what's wrong." 

"There's nothing wrong, I told you. I should go." Link didn't go, though, and in fact he took a few cautious steps back towards Ravio.

"It's okay if there is," he said. He wished he'd had someone other than Her Highness to talk to about what he did. 

"There's no problem with my quest. I'm fine and it's going fine and I'm managing it just fine." Link sat down on the floor, and Ravio quickly joined him. "Ravio, if you really want to know what's wrong, it's you. I don't understand you. Why are you here? Who are you?"

Ravio sighed. "I don't really know. But have you used the crack below the house?"

"No? Why?" Link frowned. "That's changing the subject. Just tell me who you are!"

"No, I'm not changing the subject." He hadn't been through that crack, but he knew exactly what would be there. Link paused, going to stand up and frowning. 

"What's through there, Ravio? Is there something bad? Will I need anything in particular?"

"No, unless my house still smells." He chuckled.

"Your house?" Link stared at him, obvious confusion written all over his face. "But the cracks lead to Lorule, how can your house...be there..." He shifted back a little, comprehension finally dawning in his eyes. "You're from Lorule?"

He nodded. He'd barely even lived in his house towards the end. Much like Link hadn't lived in his much these days.

"O- oh." Link scrambled to his feet, still staring at Ravio. "I need to go. I need to, sorry."

What had he done wrong? Was Link scared of him now? He'd messed this up even more now. This was why he didn't talk about himself.

Link ran out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him. Ravio had the horrible thought then that he might never see the young Hero again. He sighed and sat down on the floor again. He had ruined everything now.

Ravio buried his head in his hands, reaching under his hood to wipe a couple of tears out of his eyes. Why was he crying over Link like this? He was ridiculous. He'd never had a friend like Link before. The closest he'd ever gotten was Her Highness, and she was not his friend.

Ravio didn't even know if Link considered him a friend, but that was what he was to Ravio. The only person that he could talk to fairly freely, the only person who regularly bought things from him.

He sat there for a few minutes, and the door opened again. "Hello there!" He called, putting on his cheerful shopkeeping voice again.

"I'm sorry," he heard someone say. Link. He'd come back. He'd come back, and now Ravio was crying again and there were probably obvious damp patches on his hood. He heard Link rush closer and he just hoped he wouldn't take the opportunity to pull up his hood.

He didn't. Instead, there was silence for a moment and then Ravio felt hands pulling him up and arms wrapping around him in a hug. He was being hugged. When was the last time he was hugged. Love wasn't something you showed to children in Lorule, just in case they died or stabbed you in the back.

"I'm sorry, Ravio. I think I found your diary, I didn't know what you did..." Link squeezed him tighter. Had he really left it out on the side? He had, hadn't he. He'd left it out. He was an idiot. Now Link knew all his thoughts for days before he'd come to Hyrule. Ravio bet he'd read the whole thing.

"I was better off than most people in Lorule." That was true for a time, at least.

"But you came here," Link said. He still hadn't taken his arms away from around Ravio, and Ravio was completely okay with that.

"I had to," he said. "Did you see the barricade? That was because I took something I shouldn't have."

"What do you mean?" Link pulled away a little, frowning. "What did you take? Was someone trying to catch you?"

Ravio pointed to Link's bracelet. "It was so I could escape."

"Okay..." Link put a hand on the bracelet, fiddling with it. "That's understandable. If you needed to do it. Who did you steal from?"

Ravio had to catch himself from saying her full title. "The Princess." He almost winced saying it, she'd hate him for that.

"And she came after you?" Ravio nodded. Link hugged him briefly again. "I'm sorry."

Ravio wondered if Link had met Hilda at all. She used to be very active out in the kingdom.

"Now you know who I am," he said quietly. "Are you going to start telling me about your adventures again? I kinda miss hearing all of them."

"I don't know who you are," he said, "and I'd rather not remember it all."

"You know I'm Ravio and that I ran away from Lorule, and you know why I ran away from Lorule. And if you read more than just the pages I left my diary open to, you know an awful lot more about me than I know about you, Mr Hero."

Link sighed. "I don't know what you look like."

"Oh, come on." Ravio stepped away from him, tugging his hood firmly down in case Link tried to grab it. "You know roughly what I look like, just without the face."

"Please. It reminds me of the masked people in Kakariko Village."

"I'm not taking it off. Just, I don't know, imagine a face instead. Make me look however you want. Can't be worse than the truth." He didn't look that bad, really, but he paled in comparison to Her Highness, who was beautiful.

"I want to know what you actually look like!" Link rushed forward and grabbed the hood, trying to force Ravio to let go of it. "Please, I can't trust you if you won't just show me what you look like..."

"Trust me," he grinned when he realised what he said, "you'd be more annoyed if you knew what I looked like."

"I wouldn't." Link took his hands off the hood, stepping back. "Please? I won't tell anyone what you look like."

Ravio shook his head, but he wanted to let Link see. He wanted Link to know, in some ways.

"Please show me..." Link moved forward again, slowly reaching out a hand. "Even just for a moment."

"If you tell me what's wrong, I'll show you." Link wouldn't hate him. Link would understand, even if he didn't approve of cowardice.

Link sighed, dropping his hand again and reaching back to grip the edge of the table for a little support. "I don't like killing things, not really. Here, on this quest, I have to. It bothers me. I have nightmares about the things I kill."

Ravio couldn't remember a time when he didn't have nightmares. He always had nightmares about when his village had been split in half. Link was going down the same road as him, it seemed. Nightmares, fears, maybe Link would be spared from the panics. He was so much braver than Ravio.

"And sometimes I'm fighting and I stop and then I realise I can't breathe." He was crying now.

"I'm sorry," Ravio said. "I know how it feels. Believe me, I do." He put out a hand to Link, awkwardly patting his shoulder. "If I'm going to show you my face, would you mind closing the curtains a little? Not all the way, just enough to dim the room. I can't stand the light here in Hyrule."

Link didn't move. He was shaking and crying. Ravio got up to close them himself.

"Come on, Mr Hero." Ravio reached out to him again once the curtains had been drawn so that only a gentle light lit the room. "It's okay. You're doing a great job out there."

His heart was beating so much that he was in pain. It hurt. He was so scared. Ravio put his arms around Link, feeling that they both seemed to be as scared as each other. He was about to show his face to Link. Why. Why was he going to do this. He pulled back his hood and Link gasped.

"Is my face really that bad?" Ravio asked wryly, attempting a smile. "I don't know, I thought I was kinda good looking." Link looked away and buried his face in Ravio's shoulder, still crying.

Well. Ravio hadn't exactly expected Link to faint in awe, but he didn't think crying was quite the usual reaction to his face. He patted Link's back, hoping that he would cheer up eventually and say something to Ravio.

"You're me." He mumbled. "You're me."

Ravio had noticed the physical similarities between himself and Link, but he hadn't thought it was wise to comment on them. "I'm not you. I'm paler than you, I have purple hair and my eyes are green. You're all blond and blue eyed and handsome. Nothing like me."

"We live in the same house and we look the same." He supposed they could maybe be the equivalent of each other, but Link was so brave.

"We live in a house in the same place in two entirely different worlds. And we're complete opposites, mostly." Ravio didn't think Link was crying anymore. He was just shocked and confused. He didn't want it to be like this. He'd planned to reveal himself at a climatic moment. But now Link was upset. 

Link didn't speak to him for a long time, just staying with his head on Ravio's shoulder. When he finally looked up, his eyes were red-rimmed but no more tears fell, and he was smiling just a little. "I suppose, if you look like me, then you are kind of good looking." He giggled.

"Shh." Ravio laughed with him, though. Link was much better looking than him. "Were you born on a cold winter night?"

"I was born in the sixth month of the year, in the middle of summer." Link grinned. "Your seasons are the other way round in Lorule, though, right? You have your winter in the middle of the year."

He nodded. "But it's cold all year round."

"I could never live in Lorule." Link shivered. He was still taking in Ravio's face, that much was obvious. Ravio could practically feel eyes searching every inch of skin.

Link's eyes fixed on a particular detail. "How did you get that scar?" He asked.

Ravio's hands flew up to his cheekbone, prodding the tiny white line on his skin. "It was a knife. Um, it got thrown at me. Almost dodged it, but as you can see, not quite."

Link traced a scar at the same point on his own face. "A spark flew from the smelting pot and hit my face."

"Now that's just weird." Ravio bent closer to examine the little mark. "We're like mirror versions of each other. I'm your not-so-evil alternate self." He laughed.

"I'm the evil one." Link said, giggling. He clearly wasn't evil. If there was anything Ravio could say about Link that was true without a doubt, it was that he wasn't evil.

"Oh no, I'm so scared." Ravio prodded him in the ribs and Link flinched away, laughing. "Such a scary evil villain you are. I beg you, spare me from your wrath."

Link drew his sword and grinned at him. "Foul hero, leave me!"

"Never!" Ravio ran at him and Link dropped the sword, trying to contain his laughter as Ravio pushed him into the floor and started tickling him. "Surrender to me, monster!"

"Alas! My minions, save yourselves, I am bested by a rabbit!"

"A rabbit? Excuuuuse me, I'll have you know that I am Ravio, Lorule's Great Hero." He launched another assault of tickling on Link, grinning.

"You are the real villain!" Link squirmed.

"I'm far too brave to be a villain." Ravio stopped tickling and helped Link up into a sitting position, smiling at him. "Not nearly as brave as you, though." Link's breathing was heavy, but he was smiling too.

Ravio put his hand on the floor next to Link's own, tapping his fingers on the ground for a moment before moving quickly and resting his hand over the top of Link's. He blushed immediately and pulled his hand away. Link wouldn't want that.

Link glanced up at him, a faint smile on his face. "Ravio, you're blushing. Why are you blushing?"

He looked away. It was wrong to do that. Link probably didn't even realise what he'd tried to do.

"Ravio," Link said. He sounded amused. Ravio didn't look at him, wishing his cheeks would stop burning. Then he felt a hand on top of his. He blushed more and he was sure a disbelieving sound left his lips. "I'll hold your hand." Link was smiling.

Ravio turned his hand around and adjusted it so he could hold Link's hand properly. "Um," he said, extremely eloquently.

"It's probably weird to think you're attractive." Link giggled.

Ravio was honestly surprised that the heat of his face hadn't set his hair on fire yet. "No! I mean, um. You- you're pretty good looking yourself."

"You don't know how to take affection, do you?"

Ravio shook his head. No one in Lorule had ever held his hand or hugged him or done anything more than that. Even a simple smile was a rare thing to get. Link smiled so much. That was why Ravio had started to get maybe a tiny bit of feelings for him, even though he wasn't meant to.

"Affection is easy," Link said softly. "I hugged you earlier and that was affection. You took your hood off for me when I asked and that's affection, too." He nodded, but he didn't really understand. That didn't make all of this right. "And- I don't know," Link said nervously. "I think most boys like girls, but I like you. And it might not be normal but I still really like you even though you overcharge me for everything and you moved into my house without asking me."

"I do not overcharge." These items were one of a kind! They didn't even have them in Hyrule.

"If you say so," Link said, and then he leaned over and kissed Ravio very quickly on the cheek, ears burning red when he moved away again.

"Your ears are cute," Ravio said quietly. He was blushing even more. A kiss. He'd never even seen anyone do that before.

Link reached his free hand up to touch one of them, grinning sheepishly when he felt how warm they were. "Um. That kinda happens whenever I blush."

"I'm blushing too." He grinned back. This was so odd.

"I noticed." Link leaned in close to him again, then paused. "Um. I think- um, when you kiss someone, you're supposed to do it on their lips. Is that okay?"

Yes. Yes. No. It was wrong...he didn't know what to do.

"It's okay if you don't want to," Link said, and he was about to say something else when Ravio kissed him without any warning. It was wrong, but maybe it wasn't wrong here in Hyrule and maybe it would be okay.

Ravio was blushing madly. He felt so embarrassed, but so happy at the same time. "Was that okay?" He asked nervously. Link had a little smile on his face that Ravio hoped meant he'd enjoyed the kiss.

Link nodded and hugged him. That made him happy again. He was just so happy.

"Can I do it again?" Ravio asked. Link nodded again and so he did, another nervous but happy press of lips. This was nice. He liked kissing. It worked. It was a bit strange, but it made him feel nice.

"You know," Link said quietly, leaning back a bit so he could hug Ravio properly and smiling happily. "I think I'm going to stay home for a day or two."


End file.
